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South Park Mall (Strongsville, Ohio)
SouthPark Mall is a bi-level shopping mall located in Strongsville, Ohio, a Greater Cleveland suburb. Its anchor stores are Dick's Sporting Goods, Dillard's, JCPenney, Kohl's and Macy's. It also includes a 14-screen Cinemark Theater. Being one of the largest shopping centers in Ohio at 1,654,292 square feet (153,688.8 m2), SouthPark Mall is also ranked as one of the largest shopping malls in the United States. The mall features more than 180 specialty shops and restaurants, and is the largest retail destination in Northern Ohio. History As early as the 1960s, the intersection of Royalton Road (SR 82) and Howe Road in the rapidly expanding suburb was coveted for commercial use. A secret plan by former Cleveland Browns owner Art Modell to build a new stadium at the site was exposed by the media in the 1980s and subsequently scrapped. The land was eventually sold to the Richard E. Jacobs Group, which later unveiled its first plans for a major mall. The Higbee Company and May Company Ohio, Cleveland's two major department store companies, announced that they would join as anchors. Plans were approved in 1991 and ground was broken in 1995, with the $200 million SouthPark Center opening on October 16, 1996. The completed center included not only Dillard's (the renamed Higbee's) and Kaufmann's (the renamed May Company, now Macy's) department stores, but also JCPenney, Sears, over 100 retailers, a food court, and a grand porte cochere — a massive extended greeting canopy above its main entrance. Kohl's was also an anchor, though on the outlying perimeter road surrounding the mall. The project also made allowances for an eventual fifth mall anchor store location, originally proposed to become Nordstrom but later became Dick's Sporting Goods, plus substantial peripheral development. Westfield Group acquired the shopping center in early 2002 from the Richard E. Jacobs Group, and renamed it "Westfield Shoppingtown SouthPark", dropping the "Shoppingtown" name in June 2005. In 2006 it commenced a 60 million expansion and reconfiguration of the center, thus adding 25 upscale shops and restaurants, a rear porte cochere entrance, and a 14-screen Cinemark Theater. Dick's Sporting Goods was also added at this time to become the mall's fifth anchor store. Nordstrom also had plans to come to the shopping center in the space where Dick's Sporting Goods currently sits. The retailer's first store in the area went into Beachwood Place. Sales were not acceptable so they backed away from SouthPark. On April 2012, the mall was sold to Starwood Capital Group, along with seven other Westfield properties. As a result, Starwood changed the name to SouthPark Mall. After Starwood bought the mall there was some discussion of closing the Sears store and replacing it with a Nordstrom but that never came to fruition. On May 2016, Starwood Retail Partners announced the opening of The Commons At SouthPark Shopping Center, a 14 million redevelopment located on Rt. 82. New shops/restaurants include DSW, Michaels, Brown Aveda Institute, Orangetheory Fitness, The Vitamin Shoppe, The RAIL, and first to market CoreLife Eatery. On May 31, 2018, Sears Holdings announced that the Sears location at SouthPark would be closing in September 2018 as part of a plan to close 72 stores nationwide. The Sears store closed on September 5, 2018. Williams-Sonoma also closed. Their last day was January 25, 2019. Retailers Situated about South Park's site perimeter is The Commons at SouthPark, OfficeMax, Kohl's, The Cleveland Clinic, KeyBank, Planet Fitness, & several restaurants. The shopping center is noteworthy for its coordinated upscale architectural treatment and lush landscaping. Its interior is roofed by grand barrel-vaulted truss-work and plentiful skylights over lush plantings. The center has proven a very strong draw and popular destination for local and regional residents alike. Other notable retailers include: ALDO, Chico's, J.Jill, Papyrus, Abercrombie & Fitch, Forever 21, Sephora, MAC Cosmetics, H&M, Aveda, Godiva, PANDORA, Clarks, Swarovski, Buckle, Build-A-Bear Workshop, Pink, Hollister Co., Soma, Vans, Victoria's Secret, Lucky Shoes, Apricot Lane, Francesca's, Learning Express Toys, Books-A-Million, House of Hoops, & Trollbeads Flagship. Gallery Videos File:Southpark Mall in Strongsville, Ohio|Mall Tour Category:Malls in Ohio Category:Malls in the United States Category:Shopping Malls Category:Starwood Capital Group Malls Category:Malls that opened in 1996 Category:Multi-Level Malls Category:Former Westfield Malls Category:Macy's-anchored Malls Category:Former Kaufmann's-anchored Malls Category:Former Sears-anchored Malls Category:JCPenney-anchored Malls Category:Dick's-anchored Malls Category:Dillard's-anchored Malls Category:Dairy Queen Locations Category:Cinemark-anchored Malls Category:Kohl's-anchored Properties Category:Former OfficeMax-anchored Properties